Why do good, innocent people suffer? Why does God allow it? How can He be a loving God and allow it?
These are common questions that many believers wrestle with at some point. My answer? Read Job 38 - 42.
"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?...Where you there when I laid the earth's foundation? (38: 2, 4)" He proceeds on a long rant of things that man does not understand but which God fully knows. By this, He sets us in our place as His created thing - blessed and dearly loved but oh so teeny-tiny and unaware. He reminds us that we are not in control of anything. We cannot even count on the sun rising in the morning because we don't know how it is controlled: "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place? (38:12)." After reminding Job (and the rest of us) of his place, He asks, "Will the one who contends with the Almighty God correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer Him! (40:2)" To which Job replies, "I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more. (40:4,5)" Job realizes now that God is sovereign. He alone decides what will happen in each man's life and Job, as only a creation of this mighty God, has no place to accuse or demand anything from Him. He spoke up once against the actions of the Lord but after being reminded of his position, will do so no more.
God hasn't finished with him quite yet.
He continues, "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? (40:8). Before all of this Job has suffered much - lost all of his family, all of his riches, and even lost his health. He is suffering greatly and expresses many times that he wishes he had never been born. He calls out to God accusing him of injustice because Job was a righteous man without sin and yet all this calamity fell upon him. His friends all accuse him of evil, but Job insists that what he has received from God's hand is unfair. He does not deserve it. "Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" Ouch. I can't help but feel pricked a bit. I can picture Job opening his mouth to answer and quickly recoiling, realizing for the first time that he's been focused on himself and what he believes he deserves. Now he is faced with his teeny-tiny-ness. He does not deserve anything, not health nor wealth nor the next breath he takes. Neither do we deserve anything. Who are we to hold God accountable? Who are we to judge what is fair? What have we done that makes us great? What power do we have to control anything? We are nothing. We deserve nothing.
But God, in His great love and mercy, does not leave us as little nothings. He sacrifices His Son for us. He blesses us with blessings we don't deserve. He remains with us and provides strength, hope, and peace through the struggle. If God did not even spare His own Son from suffering, why should we demand that He spare us? Is it difficult to deal with trials? Yes. Is it hard to watch injustice in the world? Yes. Does it seem unfair that some are blessed with health and wealth while others suffer for no apparent reason? Yes. And it is right to feel this way. The Spirit of God that is in us knows that death and decay are not the order of the day (Romans 8:23). But should God make life easy for everyone? Should he take away consequences of human sin? Should our idea of fairness rule the day? No. We are not God. His love must not puff us up. He doesn't love us because we are anything impressive. He loves us because He is impressive. He is kind. good. loving. merciful. generous. just. He is the ruler and judge. We are not. He understands and knows all things. We do not. We are held accountable to Him, not He to us. His awesome love never leaves us, even through trouble or calamity, persecution, hunger, danger, or threat of death (Romans 8:35).
Wrestle with the character of the God we serve. Then accept that you cannot fully understand Him. That is what makes Him God. He is greater than we ever can be. Trust Him. He IS good.
These are common questions that many believers wrestle with at some point. My answer? Read Job 38 - 42.
"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?...Where you there when I laid the earth's foundation? (38: 2, 4)" He proceeds on a long rant of things that man does not understand but which God fully knows. By this, He sets us in our place as His created thing - blessed and dearly loved but oh so teeny-tiny and unaware. He reminds us that we are not in control of anything. We cannot even count on the sun rising in the morning because we don't know how it is controlled: "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place? (38:12)." After reminding Job (and the rest of us) of his place, He asks, "Will the one who contends with the Almighty God correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer Him! (40:2)" To which Job replies, "I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more. (40:4,5)" Job realizes now that God is sovereign. He alone decides what will happen in each man's life and Job, as only a creation of this mighty God, has no place to accuse or demand anything from Him. He spoke up once against the actions of the Lord but after being reminded of his position, will do so no more.
God hasn't finished with him quite yet.
He continues, "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? (40:8). Before all of this Job has suffered much - lost all of his family, all of his riches, and even lost his health. He is suffering greatly and expresses many times that he wishes he had never been born. He calls out to God accusing him of injustice because Job was a righteous man without sin and yet all this calamity fell upon him. His friends all accuse him of evil, but Job insists that what he has received from God's hand is unfair. He does not deserve it. "Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" Ouch. I can't help but feel pricked a bit. I can picture Job opening his mouth to answer and quickly recoiling, realizing for the first time that he's been focused on himself and what he believes he deserves. Now he is faced with his teeny-tiny-ness. He does not deserve anything, not health nor wealth nor the next breath he takes. Neither do we deserve anything. Who are we to hold God accountable? Who are we to judge what is fair? What have we done that makes us great? What power do we have to control anything? We are nothing. We deserve nothing.
But God, in His great love and mercy, does not leave us as little nothings. He sacrifices His Son for us. He blesses us with blessings we don't deserve. He remains with us and provides strength, hope, and peace through the struggle. If God did not even spare His own Son from suffering, why should we demand that He spare us? Is it difficult to deal with trials? Yes. Is it hard to watch injustice in the world? Yes. Does it seem unfair that some are blessed with health and wealth while others suffer for no apparent reason? Yes. And it is right to feel this way. The Spirit of God that is in us knows that death and decay are not the order of the day (Romans 8:23). But should God make life easy for everyone? Should he take away consequences of human sin? Should our idea of fairness rule the day? No. We are not God. His love must not puff us up. He doesn't love us because we are anything impressive. He loves us because He is impressive. He is kind. good. loving. merciful. generous. just. He is the ruler and judge. We are not. He understands and knows all things. We do not. We are held accountable to Him, not He to us. His awesome love never leaves us, even through trouble or calamity, persecution, hunger, danger, or threat of death (Romans 8:35).
Wrestle with the character of the God we serve. Then accept that you cannot fully understand Him. That is what makes Him God. He is greater than we ever can be. Trust Him. He IS good.
Comments
Post a Comment